Ohio Gov. John Kasich's Dec. 16 commentary about budget deficits ("Does anyone care? I do. We all should") will hopefully help raise in our national discourse the degree to which public debt threatens our future and our freedoms as Americans. As a retiree dependent on Social Security and Medicare that I worked for and contributed to for many years, I am deeply concerned about the threat that debt represents to seniors. Congress passed a massive tax cut in 2017, and then its leadership cynically cited a need to cut our earned benefits in order to offset the tax cuts.
And this gets to one issue I have with Kasich's piece. Like so many Republicans, he focuses only on the spending side of the growing debt problem, writing that "[d]eficits, debt and their root cause — spending — truly matter." Revenue is the other side of the equation, and it is the side that needs more attention. Cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations, adding $1.5 trillion to our deficit, made no sense and needs to be reconsidered. And it is high time for Congress to take a hard look at the earnings cap on Social Security payroll taxes. This represents a sizable loss of revenue for Social Security — the most effective antipoverty program ever undertaken by our government on behalf of the general welfare.
Leif Grina, Minneapolis
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A dollar that is not raised has an equal effect on the deficit as a dollar that is spent. Even those in the sadly declining numbers of thoughtful Republicans, such as Kasich, seem not to realize this.
Kevin Phillips, himself a thoughtful Republican commentator, calculated that, over 75 years, the Bush-Cheney tax cuts will cost the U.S. Treasury $11 trillion, almost triple what the cost of shoring up Social Security for that period would be.
Round after round of tax cuts for the wealthy have every bit as much effect on deficits, and ultimately the national debt, as does the same dollar amount in spending.
David Therkelsen, Minneapolis
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Thank you, Gov. Kasich, for your article on the importance of getting the national debt and the federal government's structural budget deficit under control. Our country's debt addiction is one of a handful of issues that keep me up at night, fearful for our nation's and our children's futures. I share your shocked disbelief that both political parties continue to ignore such an existential threat to our democracy. Like climate change, the longer we procrastinate, the more difficult achieving a solution becomes. I hope you'll consider a run for the presidency in 2020 so these issues get the visibility they deserve and move us toward making pragmatic, concrete progress to address them.